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10 MARINE REVIEW. a So DEVOTED TO THE LAKE MARINE AND KINDRED INTERESTS. - Published every Thursday at No. 516 Perry-Payne building; Cleveland, O a SUBSCRIPTION--$2.00 per yearin advance. Sin glecopies To cents each. ~ Convenient binders sent, post paid, 75 cents. Advertising rates on appli- cation, f athe og The books of the United States treasury department contain the _~ names of 3,341 vessels, of 1,227,400.72 gross tons register in the lake trade. _ The number of steam vessels of 1,000 gross tons and over that amount on _ the lakes on June 30, 1894, was 359 and their aggregate gross tonnage "634,467.84; the number of vessels of this class owned in all other parts of the country on the same date was 316 and their tonnage 642,642.50, so that _ half of the best steamships in all the United States are owned on the lakes. ' The classification of the entire lake fleet on June 30, 1894, was sie follows: eee ross: Class, . Number. Tonnage. Steam vessels......... Meee en cc decuiat sc acai sana Tan 843,239.65 ROAMING VESRCIB. fecviaasswscocseseccssscossanpacsses Por Terao 302,985.31 - Canal boats.......... eR 2S Ge ae vsuetd 386 41,961.25 BORAG CCS aiarcscdccertstotvedcsweat«coesetsee se sdeesore 85 39,214.51 PCOUAL caters setts dies fac Teac tet cscs 3,341 1,227 ,400.72 4 The gross registered tonnage of vessels built on the lakes during the past five years, according to the reports of the United States com- missioner of navigation, is as follows: -- Number. Net Tonnage. Year ending June 30, 1890............s006 TeeRI2T SFOs 108,515.00 ne sf f PSO Me cceaicadsescns See POA 111,856.45 e e bs TSO Scceetcce Snbeeee do eS) 45,168.98 a a as TSQZE.. bi adotes cccase! 175 99,271.24 S o f SOA mic. seins saesinnn t53 106 41,984.61 \ OLA ceectert. stich rs ieesaeee eee 872 406,976.28 ST. MARY'S FALLS AND SUEZ CANAL TRAFFIC. . (From Official Reports of Canal Officers.) St. Mary's Falls Canal. ' SuezCanal. 1894. 1893. 1892. - 1894. 1893. 1892. -No.vessel pass'ges 14,491| ~ 12,008 12,580 3,352 3,341 3,559 T'n'ge,net registd|13,110,366|9,849,754/10,647,203||8,039,105|7,659,068| 7,712,028 Days of Navigat'n 234 _ 219 223 365 365 365 Entered at Cleveland Post Office as Second-class Mail Matter. LAKE VESSEL OWNERS have in time past had a full share of labor troubles. Since the reorganization, three years ago, that resulted in a union of the old Cleveland Vessel Owners' Association and the Lake Carriers' Association, owners have been free from serious disagreements with employes, but if success attends certain efforts now being made to organize men employed in various capacities aboard steamboats it may be that business during the coming season will be attended by some of the _ troubles of the past. San Francisco is the headquarters of organized sea- men engaged in the coasting trade, and the Coast Seamen's Journal, a weekly publication of that city that is very well managed, is the organ of the union. Ina recent issue of the San Francisco' publication an article occupying a full page is devoted to argument urging organization among all employes on lake vessels. The union succeeded in the last congress, mainly through the efforts of Congressman Maguire of San Francisco and Congressman Nelson Dingley of Maine, the latter of whom is an acknowl-. edged authority on marine affairs, in securing some important legislation favorable to seamen, and the present movement towards organization on the lakes is based largely on the claim that employes of lake vessels may bring about the enactment of laws favorable to their interests, if the demand for these laws is made unanimous and in a systematic way. It is evidently the intention of the organizers of the proposed new lake union, who are working under the direction of T. J. Elderkin of Chicago, and who have already held meetings in different lake cities, to circulate read- ing matter of this kind, during the early part of the season, among the men who work aboard lake vessels, and endeavor to bring them into the ~ union in advance of better times which, it is claimed, are certain to come lateron. The arguments of the organizers are not of the stereotyped kind usually heard from labor agitators, and it would seem that the pres- ent movement has some backing to it. No VESSEL OWNER could be made to believe two years ago that he would ever engage his ship to carry ore from the head of Lake Superior to Ohio ports at 50 cents a ton, and yet it isa fact that ore was actually carried at that figure. It was a radical change that brought about stich a freight rate. The lake vessel business is noted for radical changes in the ' matter of carrying charges. Why is it not reasonable to look for achange equally radical in the other direction when general business conditions show actual improvement? This is the view of the present lake freight situation taken by owners who are adverse to accepting a 75-cent rate on ore business for the coming season. The big increase in freight tonnage is, of course, decidedly against high freights, but it would not take much of an increase in operating expenses to make 75-cent contracts very un- profitable. THE CLEVELAND CHAMBER OF COMMERCE has rubbed up against Gen. Casey, chief of engineers of the war department, in referring to the necessity for an investigation generally of the water overflow question on the lakes. Gen. Casey has all of the characteristics of the important army officer and his independence is shown when any question pre- sented to him is not to his liking. Some of the leading civil engineers of the country have criticised such information as has been prepared by 'the army corps regarding the Niagara outflow, and have held that the war department should for various reasons connected with river and harbor improvements give the whole subject on the lakes more attention than has been given to itin the past. The Lake Carriers' Association - adopted resolutions favorable to this view of the matter at its last meet- ing, and the Cleveland organization is right in the stand it has taken. 'THE OPENING freight rate of 75 cents on ore contracts that will tie . up vessels for all but the two closing months of the season is by no means encouraging to the vessel interests, but there is one feature now promi- © nent in the ore business that was lacking a year ago. Everybody expects that the output of Lake Superior mines will be as heavy in 1895 as it 'has ever been in a single season. LAKE UNDERWRITERS who are now fixing up a hull tariff at Detroit should certainly reduce premium rates on the best class of wooden hulls. These vessels have been made to pay more than their share of premiums. Numerous Car Ferry Schemes for Lake Michigan. Managers of nearly all the railways having terminals in cities and _, towns on Lake Michigan are giving attention to the question of car ferry service. Capt. James Davidson has begun work at West Bay City on the two car ferry tow barges for which he recently closed a contract with the _ management of the Wisconsin & Michigan Railway. 'This railway trans- verses the upper penineula of Michigan and has important connections with northwestern railways. The transfer of cars on these barges, which are to be towed by a large tug, will be between Peshtigo and South Chicago. Ifthe experiment is successful the two barges now building will be followed by others. There is talk also to the effect that the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway Company will extend its Lake Superior division to a connection with the Ahnapee & Western Railway, which terminates at Sturgeon Bay, with the view of making a steam car- ferry connection at some east shore port with a trunk line to the sea- board. The Merrill, Antigo & Eastern Railway and the Wisconsin & Michigan road are also said to be interested in this scheme. The Wis- 'consin Central Railway Comany has just completed the purchase of land at Manitowoc needed fora lake terminal at that point, and another car- ferry line toan east shore port is thus among the possibilities, although arrangements for transferring freight to Ludington on the Flint & Pere Marquette Railway Company's steamers may be made. These steamers already handle freight in considerable quantities between Manitowoc and Ludington, but the business has never been sufficient to warrent running regularly between the two points. Stocks of Grain at Lake Ports. The following table, prepared from reports of the Chicago board of trade, shows the stocks of wheat and corn in store and afloat at the prin- cipal points of accumulation on the lakes on March 23, 1895: Wheat, bushels. -- Corn, bushels. In store. Afloat. In store. Afloat. GHIGAPO: i iscssss rans 24,361,000 2,945,000 4,898,000 2,329,000 Daath weitere ecccc ne 11,573,000 85,000 1,000 Beaute Milwaukee............ OURO O eels neces el ey accu gtes sank DG@trOlt se tcsueces cence, 1,354,000 257,000 T1G1000. 3 see TQVEAO) sccccstasssese8es 2,088,000 299,000 GG25000) goede acneee aes Buftalonivessssse eae 2,680,000 295,000 95,000 541,000 Otel set tee 42,747,000 3,031,000 5,817,000 2,870,000 Russia is just now making a big outlay for new war ships. The government is laying down at the St. Petersburg navy yard twoiron clads, a cruiser, a gunboat and fifteen torpedo boats. From the same yard there was recently launched five cruisers. An ironclad of 11,000 tons, a cruiser and a training ship will be begun shortly. An ironclad and four torpedo boats are equipping at Nicolaiffe, where another ironclad has been begun. Other war ships are building at Abo, on the Gulf of Bothnia, at Copenha- gen and in England.